To prevent child hot car deaths, automakers said they will commit to making rear seat reminder systems standard on vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2025.

USA TODAY
With child hot car deaths in the news in recent weeks, automakers say they will commit to making rear seat reminder systems standard equipment on almost all passenger vehicles sold in the United States by the 2025 model year.

I wanted to kill myself': There's science behind why parents leave kids in hot cars
Concern over the hot car deaths, most of which are believed to be unintentional and preventable with caregivers failing to remember the children in their rear car seats, has prompted a push for a legislative fix, such as the proposed Hot Cars Act of 2019.

Fast facts: Hot cars can hit deadly, oven-like temperatures in as little as one hour
The agency said it "prioritizes education because, even if reliable and accurate child heatstroke prevention technology were available and installed on every new car today, it would not address the issue for the vast majority of the driving public for many years."

The group noted that GM did not meet its commitment in 2001 to roll out sensor technology by 2004 “so sophisticated that it can detect motion as subtle as the breathing of an infant sleeping in a rear-facing child safety seat.”

"They should have added detection systems to their vehicles decades ago when auto manufacturers told all parents to move their children to the back seat due to the decision of some auto makers to install overpowered airbags," Claybrook said in the same release.

USA TODAY
The commitment announced this week affects vehicles sold in the United States, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles noted that it would incorporate the technology across its global passenger-vehicle lineup on a timeline that varies "depending on market-specific product plans and regulatory regimes."

“This summer has witnessed far too many children dying in the back seats of hot cars," she said in a statement.